Dubai: Proving it to be Asian giant yet again India beat Bangladesh by 3 wickets in a keenly fought final match of the Unimoni Asia Cup at the Dubai International stadium last night to lift the trophy for seventh time.
In contesting match India was needing six runs to win against the Bangladeshi team which was equipped with a valiant fighting spirit but Kedar Jadhav (23) unbeaten along with Kuldeep Yadav (5) finally made it.
Starting batting against a target of 223 Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan put on 35 runs in 4.4 overs before left-arm spinner Nazmul took Dhawan (15) who hit straight to Soumya Sarkar at mid-off. Later, Ambati Rayudu edged Mashrafe Mortaza to wicketkeeper for 2. At a moment Bangladeshis did their Nagin Dance as India tottered at 83 for 3.
However, the partnership of Dhoni and Karthik who added 54 runs in 14 overs to the Indian scoreboard was crucial for the match riding on which India finally won the trophy.
Earlier in the day, after losing the toss Banglaedesh bat first and got all out at a score of 222. Riding on the face saving ton of opener Liton Das Bangladesh openers played some brilliant strokes starting from the beginning of the match giving a good start for their team. Liton Das scored his maiden 121 runs off 117 balls before being stumped by Dhoni. Das’s century came in the 29th over. His innings includes 12 fours and two sixes.
The other opener Mehidy Hasan Miraz (32) gave a good support to Liton and notched up a stand of 12O in the first wicket partnership.
However, despite the good start the Bangladeshi team tottered in the middle order and lost three wickets in only 31 runs.
Kuldeep Jadhav gave a serious jolt to the Bangladeshi team by scalping three wickets by conceding only 45 runs in his 9 overs.
The final three batsmen dragged Bangladesh to 222 before being all-out.
Prasanta Patnaik